Maddie Ziegler
Madison "Maddie" Nicole Ziegler (born September 30, 2002) is a former dancer at the Abby Lee Dance Company. She is the daughter of Kurt and Melissa Ziegler, and older sister of Mackenzie Ziegler. Her parents are divorced, allegedly because dance got in the way of their marriage. She is shown on the show as Abby's favorite. She is very confident in her abilities and claims that she is stronger in tap and lyrical dancing than in any other style of dance. In the future, she hopes to be on Broadway as either a dancer or choreographer. Maddie has gotten plenty of opportunities in the entertainment industry, such as an acting role in Drop Dead Diva and the music video "Chandelier" by Sia. In Dance Moms Season 1 *In The Competition Begins, she was the first ever dancer to be at the top of the pyramid and continued this streak for the next two episodes. *In Wildly Inappropriate, Maddie competes with her first solo on the show, "Cry". *In Stealing the Show, Maddie gets two solos. Abby says it is because Maddie takes tap lessons outside the group. Christi demands that Melissa pull one of the solos. *In When Stars Collide, a casting director told her to come to Broadway whenever she is in New York. *In She's a Fighter, Maddie dedicates her solo, "Angel" to her grandmother. *In There's Only One Star, the competiton for the lead is between Maddie and Chloe, but Chloe ultimately wins. Season 2 *In Everyone's Replaceable, Maddie is given a solo called "Star of the Show". After Chloe is selected for a special program, Maddie becomes annoyed. Abby gives her a pep talk and says that Chloe would never be happy for her, so she should at least pretend to be happy for Chloe. Though most of this pep talk's information isn't true, it boosts Maddie's confidence. *In Brooke's Turning Point, Maddie wins third place with a jazz solo, "Lights, Camera, Action!", and Chloe beats her. *In Jill on the Rampage, Maddie falls while performing her solo, "Maestro Man". She is carried off of the stage. *In Bullets and Ballet, Maddie is found at the bottom of the pyramid, much to her and her mother's surprise. *In Topless Showgirls, Maddie reclaimed her spot at the top of the pyramid after not being there for six weeks. *In Waiting for Joffrey, Maddie is in a trio with Brooke and Chloe called "Somebody Told Me". It ends up winning first place. *In Abbygeddon, the Maddie is presented as becoming frazzled, because she did not win a Joffrey scholarship. She ended up running off stage during her solo "In My Heart" because she said she forgot the solo, but some of the Moms believed it was because Melissa and Abby put too much pressure on her. This causes Maddie to lose confidence in herself. **The homepage for Reign Dance Productions (reigndanceproductions.com) noted at the time that "Maddie Ziegler & Chloe Lukasiak were awarded Full Tuition Scholarships to the Joffrey/ Mia Michaels 2 week Intensive in Los Angeles." A graphic makes clear that the reference is to the Joffrey Ballet School, which is a distinct organization that is not affiliated with the Joffrey Ballet. Melissa also tweeted that Maddie found out the same time as Chloe, again stating that the scholarship was for Joffrey Ballet School West in Los Angeles, administered by Mia Michaels. *In The Battle Begins, Maddie refuses to do her solo, "In My Heart" when Abby is pushing it. *In Night of the Living Dancers, Maddie performs the solo again and even though her music starts to skip, she keeps dancing until the finish. She earns second place and regains her confidence. *In Maddie Has a Secret, Maddie goes to two competitions and enters her "Cry" solo in one and her new "Looking for a Place Called Home" solo in the other. She wins two titles in a day. *In How Do You Like Them Apples?, Maddie is found at the top of the pyramid twice. *In Worst Birthday Party Ever!, Abby has the girls audition for a role on Drop Dead Diva. *In Guess Who's Back?, it is revealed Maddie was chosen for the part on Drop Dead Diva. *In Break a Leg, Maddie went to the set to film her scenes for Drop Dead Diva. Maddie played young Deb and performed a dance. She also made a cameo as herself in the video used to testify against Abby. *In Revenge of the Candy Apples, there is another controversy where the moms accuse Abby of giving too many opportunities to Maddie; in response, Maddie refuses to do her solo which Abby holds against her for most of the remainder of the season. *In Recital Rebellion, Abby punishes Maddie for refusing to do her previous solo by giving Chloe the lead role in "Trapped"; although Maddie is awarded a junior scholarship at the ALDC. *Two episodes later in Solo Fever, Maddie visits MSA talent agency with her mom and sister. Abby forces her to give convincing reasons why she should have a solo, but finally relents. *In Nationals 90210, Maddie finishes second to Chloe, and is shown smiling next to Chloe at awards.(Maddie was initially absent from the taunting directed at Candy Apples, and the incident involving Cathy throwing water, with Christi putting her hands around Cathy's neck, and pushing Cathy to the ground; but Maddie later arrived at the scene, trying to soothe a frightened Justice, and wanting to hug the crying children from the CADC. In a later episode, Christi would accuse Maddie of poor sportsmanship after not winning at Nationals. Season 3 *In The Beginning of the End, Abby says she is giving a solo to Maddie because she had the best attendance since the end of the previous season. When her solo finishes first ahead of Chloe, Abby says that Chloe has allowed Maddie to return to the top by not attending practice over the break. *In Out With the Old, In With the New, Melissa takes her daughters out of the studio, joining other moms in the parking lot sit-in. Abby gives Sophia Lucia a solo entitled "My New Reality," with the idea of replacing Maddie with Sophia. *In But I'm a National Champion!, Maddie admits to being jealous of Sophia's turning abilities. *In Revenge of the Replacements, Abby continues to refuse giving a solo to Maddie, yelling at her for not attending the studio during her mom's sit-in. Abby walks out as Maddie cries and tries to apologize. Maddie is again upset at the competition, when Abby yells that Melissa is putting her friendships and boyfriends ahead of her daughters, and anyone with dreams of being a dancer would not let anything to get in her way. *Abby eventually gives Maddie a new solo in the season's seventh episode. *In You've Been Unfriended, Abby gives Maddie a solo entitled "You Don't Know Me," because the public does not really know Maddie. *In Bye Bye Baby, Abby returns to the studio following the death of her dog Broadway Baby, saying nothing makes her happier than working with Maddie. After Abby shows disgust at changes made by the moms to her ideas for the group number, Melissa decides to turn Maddie's solo into a tribute to Abby's deceased pet, to Abby's pleasure, and the other moms' displeasure. *In She's a Maniac, Maddie is given a duet with her sister Mackenzie, which Abby names "Run From Mother." For the group dance "Golddigga", Abby tells Maddie to draw inspiration from the idea of her mother hunting down rich men at restaurants. *In The Politics of Dancing, Melissa considers home-schooling with her daughters, with Maddie saying that dance should really come before school. Abby gives Maddie and Chloe competing solos, telling everyone with the team that they will vote for who they think performed better. After the competition, Maddie receives seven votes, and Chloe receives three. *In May I Have This Dance?, Abby takes Maddie out of the group dance and makes her assistant choreographer, saying everyone else will have to learn to perform without looking to her cues. *In Candy Apple Showdown, all the moms decide to violate their ALDC contracts and go ice-skating (excepting Kristie Ray, who says at least Asia isn't getting injured.) Maddie cries when Melissa forces her into skating; Christi echoes previous claims about the watermelon fight, saying Maddie is crying because she has to be the best at everything, and that Maddie isn't an Olympic gold medalist at figure-skating. When Abby finds out, she scolds and punishes everyone on the team (except Asia) for violating the rules. *In No Room for Rotten Apples, Maddie goes to Los Angeles to dance on Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. She performs her "Survivor" number. *In Recital Rebellion, Maddie performed her "Survivor" number which made her the only girl to have two solos at this event. Maddie also performed "Breaking Down Walls." Outside Dance Moms *Maddie performed for the television program Live to Dance in 2010; but the program was canceled before her performance(s) aired. A video showing an excited reaction can be viewed here, with Maddie wearing the same costume she used elsewhere for "Sunshine & Lollipops." *Maddie performed in Alexx Calise's music video for "Cry" (watch video.) Gianna co-choreographed the dance, and took Maddie to the filming during Melissa's absence. *Maddie appeared in the role of Young Deb in a fourth-season broadcast of Drop Dead Diva. *She performed in the second season finale of Abby's Ultimate Dance Competition. *She was cast in the music video for the song "Chandelier" by the artist Sia. Sia, a fan of reality television, has said her "dream was to hire her." Sia also tweeted that she had contacted Maddie and her agent directly via Twitter, saying Maddie stood out for her; and denying claims that Abby had been involved in Maddie's selection for the part. The music video was filmed in April, 2014, and released May 6th. (Watch Video.) Sia was extremely complimentary towards Maddie ("the most talented and professional individual I've ever worked with!"), and that "people were crying on set because Maddie is so other-worldly." Sia also indicated that she enjoyed Mackenzie as a pop music artist.[28] In less than 100 days after its release, the YouTube vevo video for "Chandelier" had thus far received 100 million views. **''MTV'' reviewed the Sia/Maddie music video, saying it was "creepy cool"; that the "tiny dancer... channels some wild lunatic spirit"; and it is "the weirdest/best dance video since Robyn’s 2011 “Call Your Girlfriend.”" Later, the MTV Video Awards nominated the video (along with four others) for 2014 "Video Of The Year." **A review by Billboard called it "a dazzling dance performance." **''Time'' magazine wrote that it may be the best dance routine of the year, and that it is "the choreography that steals the show." **''Slate'' referred to it as "Maybe the best dance video of the Year." **''VH1'' wrote that they had been pushing the song as an early contender for Song of the Summer, and with the release of the full video, "we’re even that much more in love." **''USA Today'' called the video "just plain incredible," with Maddie dancing "with amazing grace and abandon for just under 4 minutes. Words won’t do this justice, just watch." **The video also exists in an extended edit version. **With input from Sia, Ryan Heffington served as choreographer for the video, the video itself winning "Best Choreography" at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. *Beacuase of Chandelier, Maddie has performed live on Ellen, Jimmy Kimmel Live, and Dancing With The Stars. *Maddie, along with several other members of the Dance Moms cast, appeared and starred in Todrick Hall's video "Freaks Like Me" as the Red Queen and Cinderella. It was released on July 3rd, 2014. The music video can be seen in full here. *On October 24, Maddie performed with Sia at the We Can Survive concert at the Hollywood Bowl ("Chandelier", "Big Girls Cry", "Elastic Heart", "Diamonds"). Story with photos. Trivia *In the summer of 2014, Maddie told Channel Nine's Today Show that she trains 40 hours per week, frequently until 8:45 to 9:30 at night. *Maddie's lucky number is 13. *According to her official site, one of the most important lessons Maddie has learned so far is not to read the internet about herself, because most of the times people will judge without realizing that what they see on TV is not real, and their comments can be really hurtful. *Her favorite dances to perform are lyrical and tap, but she likes to watch all types of dance. *Her favorite subject in school is math. *Her favorite colors are neon blue, pink, and purple. *Her favorite animal is a dolphin. *Both Maddie and Mackenzie have stated how close they are to Brooke Hyland. When asked about Maddie's closest friend at Abby Lee Dance Company, Melissa responded that Brooke was. Maddie has stated that Brooke is her inspiration. Mackenzie has said that she and Brooke are really close and Brooke is like an older sister to her. *There is a room in her house called "The Store" that has all of her and Mackenzie's dance items. *Outside of dance, she and her sister take voice lessons. *She and the other girls met Nick Jonas at his Broadway show "How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying." *Maddie and Mackenzie have iPhones, and all the girls received iPads for the second season of Dance Moms. *Melissa said that she made Maddie and Mackenzie pay for their phones (and screen protectors). *Her mother used to work at the front desk at the Abby Lee Dance Company to pay off the cost for dance during season one and the first half of season two *Maddie's original name was Taylor, but after two days it was changed to Madison. *Despite recieving the scholarship to the Joffrey Ballet Summer Camp Intensive, Melissa stated on Twitter that Maddie was not able to participate. *Her favorite shows are Jessie and Shake It Up. *According to Mackenzie, Maddie is bossy, but they still have fun together. Mackenzie also says they never get competitive with each other because she wants to be different. *Maddie dances in her sleep. *Her Zodiac sign is Libra. *Besides dancing, her other passions are makeup and hair. *Maddie's favorite singer is Justin Bieber, and she also loves Selena Gomez. *Her favorite book is Dolphin Tales. *Her favorite cities are New York and Los Angeles. *Maddie has taken dance, voice, and acting lessons at the Abby Lee Dance Company since she was 2.5 years old. *If she had to pick between dance, acting, and singing, she'd pick "100% dance". *She does not read the internet about herself. *Her favorite solo is "Uphill Battle" because it was challenging to her. *When asked what she does in her free time, Maddie says that when she's not dancing, she's at home - dancing. Sometimes she will play games with Mackenzie, pretending to be dance teachers. *Following the Hylands departure from the show in season four, Maddie sadly recalled that Paige was her best friend. *In season four, Maddie has stated she is working on her acting, and has been auditioning for movies. *She has very long brown hair and just like Kendall and Brooke she has blue eyes. She also has braces which she had since the fall of 2012. Her braces are off in the Christmas Special because she got them removed sometime before the filming of the special. *On her eleventh birthday, Gianna praised her by calling her "the most hard working, talented and loving girl I know!" *There are rumors that Maddie isn't returning for season 5 as she may be on Broadway. Maddie herself gave her expectations for her future when the show will end someday, in an interview with inTouch, published July 29th, 2014: "I’ll still be at the studio every day and I'll still take dance very seriously. And, the girls there are my best friends. I don't really worry about the show ending, because all that stuff will stay the same!" *Maddie received a perfect score for her solo, Leaving Berlin, at Sheer Talent nationals in 2013. *From the end of season 4.5, Maddie would have done 51 solos in total. Page Content Credit Category:Female Category:Abby Lee Dance Company Category:Dancer Category:Dance Moms Category:Friend Category:Dance Moms Cast Category:Friends